Open data economy: Eight business models for open data and insight from Deloitte UK

When I asked whether the push to free up government data was resulting in economic activity and startup creation, I started to receive emails from people around the United States and Europe. I’ll be publishing more of what I learned in our ongoing series of open data interviews and profiles over the next month, but two responses are worth sharing now.

Open questions about open growth

Harvey Lewis, one of the primary investigators for the research project, recently wrote about some of Deloitte’s preliminary findings at the Open Government Partnership’s blog in a post on “open growth.” To date, Deloitte has not found the quantitative evidence the team needs to definitely demonstrate the economic value of open data. That said, the team found much of interest in the space:

“… new businesses and new business models are beginning to emerge: Suppliers, aggregators, developers, enrichers and enablers. Working with the Open Data Institute, Deloitte has been investigating the demand for open data from businesses. Looking at the actual supply of and demand for open data in the UK provides some indication of the breadth of sectors the data is relevant to and the scale of data they could be considering.

The research suggests that the key link in the value chain for open data is the consumer (or the citizen). On balance, consumer-driven sectors of the economy will benefit most from open government data that has direct relevance to the choices individuals make as part of their day-to-day lives.”

I interviewed Lewis last week about Deloitte’s findings — stay tuned for more insight into that research in February.

Freemium Product / Service. None of the 13 enterprises interviewed by us falls into this case, but a slew of instances may be provided: a classic example in this vein is represented by mobile apps related to public transportation in urban areas. [Link added.]